“Depending on the iteration of the conspiracy, it’s the
Rothschilds, it’s Jewish bankers, it’s any one of a number of different
elites,” Prof. Cornell Clayton, a public-policy scholar at Washington State
University, said in an interview with Humanities Washington. “… during periods
when you see rapid economic and cultural transformations taking place, populism
and conspiratorial thinking really get teed
up.”

Rather than debunking conspiratorial claims, Clayton argues
that both populism and a paranoid thinking have always played important roles
in American politics. He cites fears of
the Illuminati and the Know-Nothing movement in the 1850s. He also points to
Father Charles Coughlin, Huey Long, and John Birchers as examples of leaders
and groups who saw politics in apocalyptic terms.

Clayton directs the Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public
Policy and Public Service at Washington State University, where he also serves
as the Thomas S. Foley Distinguished Professor of Government. He received a
doctorate in politics from Oxford University. Past distinctions include
Fulbright, Truman, and Mellon scholarships.